


Cuckoo's Nest

by misura



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alex Summers Lives, Armando Muñoz Lives, Explicit Language, Hurt Armando Muñoz, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Non-Chronological
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 04:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14633757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: The difference between being able to adapt to survive and being a survivor is all about attitude.(Scott and Alex rescue a captured Logan and Darwin. Logan is appropriately grateful and appreciative.)





	Cuckoo's Nest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ciliegio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ciliegio/gifts).



The difference between being able to adapt to survive and being a survivor is all about attitude.

Logan, now - Logan knows that whatever 'tests' they've got waiting for him in that small room with the metal table and the wide drains, he can handle it. He's been through worse.

Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell, but guess what: he'll heal. He'll get better, get over it and one day, any day now, he'll get _even_. (Well. Maybe not even. But he'll kill a lot of people to make sure they don't do to anyone else what they've done to him, and that'll have to be enough.)

Darwin, on the other hand - well, he's alive. He keeps being alive, and on the outside, sure, he gets back to his old self, same as Logan does.

On the inside, though - that's something else. That's what's got Logan worried, nowadays, makes him worry that by the time the cavalry gets here, there won't be much of Darwin left to rescue.

Logan's no hero - never was, never will be, but there's not being a hero and then there's getting locked up with a guy and letting him fall to pieces on your watch.

 

Logan's not sure that he'd qualify Scott Summers as the cavalry, but he's brought along his brother, who is slightly less of an asshole, and apparently he (Alex) and Darwin are old friends or something, which means the trip back home ( _their_ home, that is) gets kind of ... noisy.

"Good friends, are they?" Logan asks, because he's already used the 'What took you guys so long' line the second Alex and Scott came bursting through the door.

"Yeah," Scott says. Logan's not quite figured out yet why Scott dislikes him. It's okay though; he can work with what he's got.

"Wishing you had a friend like that?" Probably. Scott's no teenager anymore, but Logan knows suppressed jealousy when he sees it.

"Try: wishing I hadn't drawn the short straw, meaning I need to stay out here and keep an eye on you instead of joining in," Scott says.

_Huh._ Though Darwin seems a nice guy, so why not, other than the fact that Scott's an asshole who doesn't deserve nice things. "Well, I'm not feeling my best right now, but hey, willing to give it a try if you are? I could do with some relaxation after all that."

Scott looks vaguely guilty (Logan refuses to feel responsible) and extremely disinclined to take Logan up on that not-so-serious offer.

"No? All right, your loss. I'm taking a nap. Wake me when we get there? Or don't. All the same to me."

 

Logan dreams, annoyingly, of family.

Not the kind you raise: the kind you come home to, and kiss, and curl up with when it's cold, and do other things with whatever the temperature is. The kind who know the story of each and every one of your scars, who know that no matter how lost they get, or how dark a hole someone keeps them in, you'll come for them.

He dreams of sunlight filtering through a window, and lazy afternoon kisses while sitting on a bed he's never seen before. Of standing in the middle of a room (a different room) and knowing he could destroy everything in it, except this one person who's with him.

He dreams of stroking skin that's soft and silky one moment and hard and rough the next.

(He wakes up to find Scott asleep, too; so much for the kid 'keeping an eye on him'.)

 

"It's a terrible thing, really," Charles says, and Logan thinks, _Wait until you see what'll be left of those assholes once I'm through with them._

What he says is, "Who the hell came up with the brilliant idea of sending those three boy-scouts out by themselves?"

Charles shrugs a little. He's projecting guilt, but subtly, like it's not really his fault and he only feels responsible because he's Charles Xavier, and the fate of the mutant world is ever a heavy weight upon his shoulders.

Logan's not really buying it. Charles being Charles, that's probably the idea. "Think you can cut the crap and tell me what you want? And don't say you want to help me."

Charles looks slightly offended. "To help them, then. They need you, Logan. I think Darwin's recovery in particular would proceed much more smoothly with you there."

"Funny. _I_ think that the moment Scott finds out I fucked his boyfriend, things are going to get very awkward very fast, and I'd as soon not stick around for that kind of drama."

"It was an act of compassion. Love, even," Charles says. "I think Scott may surprise you."

"You're a romantic. I hate that about you."

"Well. At least I'm honest about it." Charles smiles faintly, still an asshole when victorious. "I'll see if we can find you a room, shall I?"

 

Darwin adapts to survive. Put him under water, and he'll grow gills; surround him with sharp objects, and his skin will turn to rock. Et cetera and so on.

The point is: rocks aren't human. Rocks don't need arms, or the capacity to think, to feel. To talk.

"You still alive over there?" Logan asks, because in a place like this, asking _'Are you okay?'_ only makes you sound like an idiot and an asshole. (He just knows it's what Scott's going to be asking them, the moment he shows up.)

Darwin doesn't move. Logan's seen him come back shaking and shuddering and screaming and sobbing, all of which he might have grumbled about (because what else can he do?)

"Hey." Logan would have thrown something, but there's nothing in their cell that might be used as a projectile. "Kid. Darwin." Used to be a taxi-driver, or so he's heard. Not that Logan cares.

Logan hears himself breathe. He wonders if Darwin is, what happens to a human body robbed of oxygen because it's currently stuck in a state where lungs aren't conducive to survival. (Oxygen is, though, to most lifeforms, and Darwin's human, so supposedly, his mutation knows that.)

 

Alex shows up at his door, middle of the night, and normally, Logan'd be turning him away, but (as Charles keeps reminding him) this is a school, which means any chance at getting a decent drink is not to be refused. Besides, Logan sort of likes Alex - a lot better than his brother, not that that takes much.

"Me and Darwin, we go back a long way, you know," Alex says. "We were two of the first."

Logan shrugs. He's not really interested, but there are things he's even less interested in, so if this is what Alex wants to talk about, why not?

"Guess it just felt nice, to have someone I didn't need to hold back with. Someone I knew wasn't going to get hurt just by being around me."

_You looked in on him lately?_ "What about your brother?" Logan asks, not because he cares but because every bit of information about Scott may serve as ammunition one day.

"The moment I figured out I was different, I got as far away from him as possible. It helped that people thought I was just blowing things up for kicks," Alex says.

Logan fakes a yawn. Bottle's empty, though, so it's basically a polite way of telling Alex to stop talking and piss off.

"Want some company?" Alex says, apparently having caught only half the hint.

"Aren't you and - " Logan reconsiders. Alex isn't that drunk, and Logan sort of likes him as much as he likes anyone. Plus, it's going to be great seeing Scott's expression when he finds out. "Sure. Why not?"

 

"Fuck." Dealing with hurt and quite possibly traumatized mutants isn't Logan's specialty. He's winging it, more or less, and not doing so great, as far as he can tell.

Darwin might have a pulse, but Logan'll be damned if he can figure out where to check for one. He can't see anything that looks like an arm, or a leg. Or a face.

It occurs to him that maybe this isn't Darwin at all. Maybe some assholes are watching him on camera right now, having a good, long laugh at the stupid mutant trying to revive a piece of hard plastic.

The thought makes his claws come out, leaving not so much as a scratch on whatever Darwin's skin is made of right now.

"Fuck!" Times like these, Logan can kind of, sort of see Magneto's point about humans.

"You talking to me?" Darwin says - and it really is Darwin, mouth and arms and legs and all. "Because I appreciate the sentiment, but I kind of like to get dinner and a movie first. Guess I'm a traditionalist."

Logan sighs. He'd say, _Good to have you back,_ except that it isn't, really, for either of them.

"Where are we, by the way?" Darwin asks. "And, sorry about this, but who are you?"

 

"The fuck?" Logan says. There's at least three someones in his bed, and two of them snore. Loudly.

Alex, yes, fine - Logan's not opposed to be a bit of cuddling, or even a morning quickie in the shower. He's pretty damn sure he hasn't invited Scott or Darwin over, though - and yet here they are.

"Kinda loud, huh?" Darwin grins. He looks pretty good, considering. Happy. Logan refuses to wonder if Darwin remembers his name, or what day it is, or what he had for dinner yesterday.

"So what, not snoring's necessary for survival now?" Logan snorts. He wants to ask, _What the hell are you doing here? How'd you even get in?_ but if Darwin doesn't remember that, either, he'd prefer not to know. Charles is the mind-healer, not Logan.

"Surviving your morning temper, maybe," Darwin says.

Alex groans. "Could people please stop talking so loud this early in the morning?"

"Depends," Logan says. "Could people _not_ here by invitation maybe get the hell out?"

"Me and my brother are kind of a package deal, you know," Alex says. "Well, and Darwin, too. Sort of like three for the price of one."

"Thanks for the timely warning, asshole." Logan decides to go get some coffee and just hope everyone'll be gone when he gets back.

 

Darwin keeps forgetting.

Logan keeps telling himself that it's all right, just Darwin's mutation doing its thing. Kind of like the way Logan's mutation works, too, keeping him sane under circumstances that would make anyone else snap.

He's not sure when the sex starts happening. Or, well, obviously he knows when the sex starts happening, but he's unclear on the why of it, the reason for his libido suddenly kicking in and deciding that what Darwin needs is a good fuck, a bit of sexual human contact.

(It might be Darwin's mutation, he supposes. Some kind of pheromone, something to put Logan in the mood to give Darwin what he needs to survive. Sounds hinky, though, like he's putting all the blame for this on Darwin - like it's not his own damn choice to stick his dick into someone barely even conscious.)

(Might be their captors, too, of course. Some sort of gas - except that Logan doesn't think any gas'd get past both his healing factor and Darwin's adaptability. Still, you never know. Humans are like that.)

 

Next night, it's Scott, wearing a cocky grin and his glasses and not too damn much else.

Logan toys with the idea of kicking him out, but again, as Charles keeps pointing out, this is a school and Logan would hate to traumatize any of the youngsters.

"What do you want?"

Scott shrugs. "A 'thank you' for saving your life might be nice."

"One, you didn't. Two, I don't do nice. Three - well, there's no three. You want to get fucked, go ask your brother. Hell, go ask Darwin. I'm not the guy you're looking for."

Scott chuckles. Logan's claws slide out at the sound. He's lied, he realizes; he'd love to fuck Scott, make him beg for it, maybe hurt him, just a little bit. Just enough to let Scott know who's boss. "What if I'm looking for a guy to fuck?"

"In that case, you've definitely come to the wrong room, bub," Logan says. He's annoyed to realize part of him is curious what it'd be like, to let Scott take the wheel. It'd be Logan's call, Logan's choice, all the way - Scott could never actually physically restrain or overpower him.

Might be a fun fantasy though. Might be, but probably not.

"You always act like you're so tough," Scott says.

Logan yawns. "Sorry, was there a point you were wanting to make?"

"Darwin told us a bit about what happened," Scott says, and Logan realizes that this is Scott, trying to offer comfort. Comfort sex, possibly, as if a fuck has ever magically made anything better. "His mutation made him forget some of it. But I - we - Alex and I, we figured you'd remember, right? So."

"So?" Logan says. "I'm fine, Scott. I act tough because I am. It's not an act. I've been through more shit in my life than you or your brother or Darwin will ever forget. And guess what? I'm still here, and I'm fine."

"Kind of an asshole, though," Scott says. "You could use some friends."

"Yeah? I'll get right on that, shall I?" Logan shakes his head. "By the way, thanks for ruining the mood, asshole. For a moment there, I thought I was going to get laid tonight."

"Well, Alex is with Darwin. You ask nicely, they might let you join in. It's what I guess I'll be doing, since this didn't work out."

Logan considers. "Might as well walk over there together, then. How about I get you a shirt and some pants? Of course, they'll be a bit too big for you, but s'pose that can't be helped."


End file.
